Price, Scarcity, and Consumer Willingness to Purchase Pirated Media Products

Worldwide purchases of pirated media products continue to rise despite various industry and government efforts to quell their growth. Academic research examining consumer decisions underlying the purchase of pirated media has been limited in its approach by focusing almost exclusively on main-effects relationships and by using noncausal research designs. This article addresses these shortcomings by examining how various factors that consumers may perceive as constraining their ability to purchase genuine products (e.g., high price, stockouts, low income, lack of channel access, government restrictions) lead them to acquire pirated products and to condone such behavior in others. The authors report the results of three studies (two of which are experimental) that test three moderators of the consumption constraint effects using various settings, stimuli, and consumer types. The findings support the hypotheses that factors that may be perceived as limiting consumption can lead to higher piracy-related activity and are moderated by ethical beliefs, interpersonal social influence, and trait psychological reactance. The authors discuss the results in terms of implications for policy makers, managers, and future research opportunities.